I am pleased to announce that the new album is finally ready. ‘Re-Animator’ will be released on Italian label Black Widow (BW 097) in June. The album features my regular band plus members of Seventies psych legends Caravan and includes several songs inspired by the stories of HP Lovecraft. Most of the tracks were recorded live in the studio with only the minimum of overdubs (vocal, violin, mellotron etc) so the energy level is high although there are also some slower, more atmospheric tracks ideal for when you’re reading your creepy old horror comics!

If you can’t wait for the official release the PRAS are making an exclusive offer to visitors of the websites and recipients of this newsletter (see PRAS News below)

Jack The Ripper!

I recently celebrated the completion of my 20th book (I’m not including the 3 music biographies published during my misspent youth) in grand style by opening a large packet of crisps. In addition to the titles included in the bibliography listed on the German and Italian websites I can now add ‘Contact Your Guardian Angel’, ‘The Complete Kabbalah Course’, ‘Crime Scenes’, ‘The Crimes of Jack The Ripper’ and, in complete contrast, ‘I Remember Dying – Remarkable True Stories Of Those Who Returned From Heaven’. I am as proud of my books as I am of my albums, but I take a special pride in the fact that ‘The Complete Kabbalah Course’ has been honoured with a forward by Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi who is a foremost master of this form of esoteric wisdom and that ‘I Remember Dying’ will have an introduction by the writer Colin Wilson. Wilson, as some of you may know, is one of the most celebrated authors and intellectuals of his generation whose books on crime, the occult and the nature of consciousness have been a source of ideas and reading pleasure for me for 20 years or more. His and Halevi’s endorsements I consider to be the highlight of my writing career and a source of great personal pride.

If you like my music I think you would find a lot of great stories and characters in Wilson’s ‘The Occult’ and its companion ‘Mysteries’.

Websites

I was pleasantly stunned recently to see the new English website designed for me by Swedish artist Mikael Runnstrom, who some of you may remember painted the Dr Cream figure that I used as the Gaslight Records logo many years ago. Mikael has created a gorgeous animated site which should be finished by the Summer but which you can sample now at http://www.mirudesign.se/pr/ Have a sneak preview and then write to Mikael at info@mirudesign.se and tell him how much you like it. The man deserves praise.

Please also feel free to check out the numerous new links on this and the other sites (www.paulroland.it and www.paulroland.de ) which offer access to a wealth of interesting music, movie, historical and occult sites. You’ll find a link to sites dedicated to the infamous Edwardian serial killer HH Holmes, Hammer Horror films, Cult TV, a rare records mailorder service, celebrity psychics etc etc. Something for everyone, as they say.
I also urge you to visit the new Roland forum http://paulroland.schattentanz.de where you can exchange views and albums too.

Downloads

Finally, for those who wish to compile their own CDs of tracks from long deleted and hard to find albums such as ‘Masque’ and ‘Roaring Boys’ you may be interested to know that they can now be downloaded from various sites such as Audiolunchbox, Napster and MusicNet and AppleiTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/music/) etc

I gave these companies permission to offer these albums for download so please use them and create your own compilations. I get a few cents for each track so they are not taking CD sales away from me.

If you don’t want to wait for the official release of ‘Re-Animator’ on Black Widow (which will hopefully be June but may be delayed until September) the PRAS have pressed a VERY limited quantity exclusively for visitors to this website. It will have a full colour front and back cover but it will not include the booklet with the lyrics. However, it will feature the complete album PLUS a selection of extra tracks (total running time 74mins) these will include alternate mixes and two out-takes, ‘Carrie’ and a re-recording of ‘Meadows Of The Sea’, all from the same ‘Re-Animator’ sessions.
This ‘members only’ preview CDR will NOT be available through distributors or record shops. If it is successful the PRAS hopes to make other rare or deleted Roland albums available through the websites in the future. Any suggestions for future releases are always welcomed.

The PRAS also have a limited quantity of the new 4CD set ‘Looking For Europe - The Neo-folk Compendium’ featuring tracks by Scott Walker, Death In June, Nico, Laibach and Paul Roland (‘Wyndham Hill’ original studio version). The CDs come complete with an extensive booklet telling the story of the neofolk movement and are still shrink wrapped, but when we say limited we really mean it. Yes, folks the German record company sent us only THREE copies so the first three to order will be the lucky ones. Because of this we would appreciate it if you could state an alternative choice if the CD is sold, otherwise we will ,of course, return your money straight away.
Price of the CD inc postage is 15 euros (£10 UK).

We also have THREE copies of the ‘Pavane’ LP with 12”EP for the same price.

Books and Kabbalah Cards

Some of you have been writing to ask where you can find the Kabbalah Cards and Paul’s books. Unfortunately, we do not sell these but they are easily available on-line from www.amazon.co.uk,www.amazon.de,www.amazon.com and www.play.com as well as other on-line mailorder suppliers. When you visit these sites simply type in ‘Paul Roland’ or the title of the item you are interested in. Please note: the Kabbalah Cards are available in both English and German language editions (the German title is ‘Kabbalah Karten’). There are also German, French, Spanish, Polish, Russian and Scandanavian language editions of several of Paul’s books so you don’t have to struggle with the text if English is not your first language (but sadly none have been published in Greek or Italian).

Paul has asked us to point out that he is not the author of ‘Till First Light’ and ‘How To Do Your Tax Return’ (!!!) that is another ‘Paul Roland’!!